Brad’s Smartphone Daydream: Multiple Modes

I’m distractible. Easily. My iPhone is the worst (but far from the only*) temptation to wander away from what I should be thinking about.

In today’s New York Times, reporter Conor Dougherty explains how he lobotomized his phone — removing all social media, games, even the browser — in order to stay focused. I periodically do something similar, removing social media and disabling email to limit the firehose of distraction. It’s an investment in my ability to daydream, what psychologists call “the default mode,” since daydreams are where most insights come…